Ron Livingston
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Biography
Filmography
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Biography
In the mid-to-late nineties, actor Ron Livingston played the quintessential everyman in movies such as "Swingers" (1996) and "Office Space" (1999) - two cult favorites which perfectly captured that decade's culture, pop and otherwise - and the two films that made him a hipster household name. Proving he was more than just the wry, funny "hang-out guy," by the dawn of the millennium, Livingston did a one-eighty turn by showing his diversity - suiting up for courtroom drama, taking a sexy turn in the city and ending up on the negotiating end of a hostage crisis - all to great effect on both the big and small screens. By the 2010s, Livingston was working regularly in TV, starring in two series, the recovery-themed comedy "Loudermilk" (Audience 2017- ) and the tear-jerking drama "A Million Little Things" (ABC 2018- ), at the same time.
Livingston was born on June 5, 1968 in Cedar Rapids, IA. He and his three siblings were raised in the town of Marion by a Lutheran minister mother and an aerospace engineer father who once considered a singing career. Their son's interest in acting emerged as early as the second grade, with Livingston's portrayal of Rip Van Winkle in a school play. As a student at Marion High School, Livingston's main activities were wrestling on the school's team and acting. His father even joined him in a stage production of "Oklahoma." At age 16, Livingston broke the news of his career plans to his parents and upon graduation, trekked to Connecticut to study acting at Yale University's prestigious drama department.
At Yale, Livingston's classmates included future stars Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. At one point, Livingston directed Norton in a production of Chekov's "The Cherry Orchard." After graduating from college with degrees in theater and literature, Livingston moved to Chicago, where he first performed in small-staged production of Shakespeare before understudying in various productions at Chicago's Goodman and Touchstone Theaters. Getting all he could out of the Windy City stage, he took the next logical step by moving to Los Angeles where, like many struggling actors before him, began working in the mailroom - but not at the William Morris Agency; instead, at the Universal Studios theme park. After being involved in an auto accident, he took his combined insurance money and savings and quit that sad little job, intending to move out of the theme park and into the real world.
Livingston's first audition was for MTV's original "The Real World" (1992- ), but the first onscreen gig he landed was marked by a pair of lines in the feature film comedy, "Straight Talk" (1992) - lines that were ultimately cut from the film altogether. Roles were sparse in the first few years, but 1996 marked a very rapid turning point for the eager actor's bourgeoning career. Post-theme park, he was cast as a series regular in a prominent ABC vehicle for Molly Ringwald called "Townies" (1996), along with then-unknowns Lauren Graham, Jenna Elfman and Eric McCormack. Although he had a prominent role as Ringwald's boyfriend, the seaside-based sitcom vanished from the schedule after only four months, doing little for Livingston's career besides help pay the rent.
The same could not be said for his other offering that year - the "so money" slice of Angeleno nightlife, "Swingers." Written by Livingston's real-life buddy Jon Favreau, the movie was loosely based on the experiences Favreau had when he first moved to L.A. He had just broken up with a long term girlfriend and counted on his friends, Vince Vaughn and Livingston, to cheer him up. The characters both Vaughn and Livingston play in the film - smooth-talking ladies' man Trent and aspiring actor Rob, respectively - were based on themselves - including a reference to Livingston's real-life theme park work, with Rob auditioning for Goofy at Disneyland. Tapping into the swing dancing zeitgeist, "Swingers" literally came out of nowhere and hit the pop cultural jackpot, with its stylized dialogue quickly entering the hipster's vernacular.
Although "Swingers" saw a more immediate upswing for co-leads Favreau and Vaughn, Livingston enjoyed a measure of recognition for his work in the instant classic. By 1998, Livingston was no longer the bit player on television. He was cast as the loutish best friend on "That's Life" (1998), a Fox sitcom that began in early March and unfortunately left the air a month later. But the following year, Livingston made good on his "Swingers" promise by again finding himself smack dab in the middle of a timeless classic. As the lead role in Mike Judge's first live-action film, "Office Space" (1999) - a part he won when the studio's choice, Ben Affleck, went elsewhere. As the joyless cubicle-dweller Peter Gibbons, who breaks free of his shackled existence and plays out every corporate drone's fantasy - to say nothing of dating Jennifer Aniston - Livingston brought an empathetic sense of frustration and sweetness to the role. "Office Space" was a hit with critics, but flopped at the box office. In its subsequent life on video/DVD, the sharp satire was unexpectedly embraced by a greater audience and turned the movie into one of the decade's favorite unsung gems.
With two iconic flicks behind him, Livingston had to have felt there was no where to go but down. So he branched out, playing a variety of roles so as not to be pigeon-holed. October finally saw the release of "Body Shots" (1999), New Line's ensemble film about the party and hook-up culture in Los Angeles. Darker and less earnest than "Swingers" and shot just as "Office Space" was released, the film made little impact, but Livingston escaped the film's rubble unscathed. In 2000, Livingston decided to flex his acting muscle by portraying Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in the independent road trip drama, "Beat" (2000). He also opted to try his luck once more on series television, joining ABC's hit drama "The Practice" (1997-2004) during the 2001-02 season as the frequently-recurring D.A. Alan Lowe. Riding high in a role created specifically for him, his first appearance in September of that year came at the same time the actor debuted with the lead role of Capt. Lewis Nixon in HBO's prestige WWII miniseries, "Band of Brothers" (2001).
If Livingston was already the perennial guy's guy, then by 2002, he was now the girl's guy as well. As novelist Jack Berger - known simply as "Berger" - on seasons five and six of HBO's "Sex and the City" (1998-2004), Livingston suddenly found himself an object of desire to millions of female viewers - all of whom hoped Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) had finally found her soulmate in the brooding Berger. At least that was initially the case. He became a permanent part of "Sex" lore by turning his nice-guy image on its ear by infamously dumping Carrie with a post-it note!
Post-Berger, Livingston continued to turn out memorable performances, including that of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's coarse, semi-fictional agent in "Adaptation" (2002), the tough S.W.A.T. team leader Donnie Anderson in "44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out" (2003), and as a hard-nosed businessman trying to sanitize the old panache of Vegas casinos in "The Cooler" (2003). The popularity of Livingston's Berger on "Sex in the City" had so proven to studio executives that Livingston could charm the female contingent that he was cast as Brittany Murphy's onscreen boyfriend in the summer romantic comedy "Little Black Book" (2004).
After segueing from light to dark comedy as a perverted private school teacher in "Pretty Persuasion" (2005), Livingston decided to stay put on television for a while, appearing on Fox's hostage negotiation drama "Standoff" (2006-07). Combining a witty romantic spark with co-star Rosemarie DeWitt amidst the element of danger, the short-lived show let Livingston do what he did best - be the guy's guy and the girl's guy. His charm worked on DeWitt in real life, and the two were married in 2009. That year, he starred in another swiftly cancelled series, the sci-fi show "Defying Gravity," and soon shifted his focus back to film.
Following supporting parts in two 2010 comedies, "Dinner for Schmucks," starring Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, and the amiable love story "Going the Distance," Livingston went on to a featured role in the lauded HBO TV movie "Game Change" (2012). In 2013, he had a particularly busy year, with a stint on the popular period drama "Boardwalk Empire" (HBO, 2010-14), a lead turn in the indie comedy "Drinking Buddies" and a performance as a haunted farmhouse owner in the horror hit "The Conjuring." Livingston next appeared in historical drama "Parkland" app(2013) and military family drama "Fort Bliss" (2014), followed by indie drama "James White" (2015) and dark comedy "Addicted to Fresno" (2015). Supporting roles in the comedy reboot "Vacation" (2015) and Joe Swanberg's "Digging For Fire" (2015) were followed by a larger co-starring role in the thriller "The Fifth Wave" (2016). After appearing in Michael Showalter's black comedy "Search Party" (TBS 2016- ), Livingston returned to TV full time, starring in Peter Farrelly's "Loudermilk" (Audience 2017- ), a comedy about alcoholic recovery, and co-starring in the drama "A Million Little Things" (ABC 2018- ). Between seasons, Livingston appeared in crime thriller "Shimmer Lake" (2017), Harry Dean Stanton's farewell film "Lucky" (2017), Jason Reitman's comedy-drama "Tully" (2018) and road trip comedy "The Long Dumb Road" (2018).
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1992
Made film-acting debut with a small role in "Straight Talk"
1995
Made TV debut on NBC series "JAG"
1996
Debuted as a series regular on ABC's "Townies" as Curt, the boyfriend of Carrie (Molly Ringwald)
1996
Had first major film role in "Swingers"
1998
Co-starred on short-lived ABC sitcom "That's Life"
1999
Appeared in the ensemble of "Body Shots"
1999
Played a political aid to William Hurt's gubernatorial candidate in "The Big Brass Ring"; shown in festivals before airing on Showtime
1999
Had first leading role in a feature in Mike Judge comedy "Office Space"
2000
Cast to play Allan Ginsberg in "Beat"; screened at Sundance
2001
Joined cast of ABC drama series "The Practice" as prosecuting attorney Alan Lowe
2001
Played his first dramatic role as Captain Lewis Nixon on HBO mini-series "Band of Brothers"
2002
Played a Hollywood agent in the Spike Jonze-directed "Adaptation"
2002
Played the recurring role of Jack Berger, a writer and love interest for Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), on HBO's "Sex And The City"
2003
Co-starred in "The Cooler" with Alec Baldwin and William H. Macy
2004
Co-starred with Brittany Murphy in romantic comedy "Little Black Book"
2005
Played a teacher in "Winter Solstice" opposite Anthony LaPaglia
2005
Again played a teacher in the dark comedy "Pretty Persuasion"
2006
Starred in TNT miniseries "Stephen King's Nightmares & Dreamscapes"
2007
Portrayed Richard Pimentel in the drama "Music Within"
2007
Cast in Neil LaBute's play "In a Dark Dark House" at the Lucille Lortel Theater
2009
Co-starred in the film adaptation of "The Time Traveler's Wife"
2010
Co-starred with Paul Rudd and Steve Carell in the comedy "Dinner for Schmucks"
2010
Cast opposite Drew Barrymore and Justin Long in "Going the Distance," a romantic comedy about long-distance relationships
2012
Appeared in fantasy drama "The Odd Life of Timothy Green"
2012
Portrayed senior adviser Mark Wallace in HBO's "Game Change"
2013
Starred in "Drinking Buddies"
2013
Featured in the horror movie "The Conjuring"
2013
Featured in historical drama "Parkland"
2013
Played a recurring role on HBO's "Boardwalk Empire"
2015
Featured in National Lampoon's "Vacation" reboot
2015
Played writer David Lipsky's <i>Rolling Stone</i> editor on David Foster Wallace biopic "The End of the Tour"
2016
Co-starred on comedy drama "Search Party"
2017
Joined the cast of John Carroll Lynch's directorial debut, "Lucky"
2018
Co-starred in the comedy "The Long Dumb Road"
2018
Played a supporting role in Sam Elliott adventure vehicle "The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot"
Companions
